Proenza Schouler / Pre-Fall 2014

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Among the many things Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez do well—and let’s see, there’s their increasingly adult sensibility of how cool women want to dress, their ability to create a look that feels so right it makes the heart both race and ache, their capability to introduce color into a wardrobe without giving any all-black devotees anxiety attacks, and, oh yeah, there’s the bags—but what they do really well this time of year is deliver a pre-collection that somehow connects the dots between what they showed on the runway a few months back and what’s to come next season. All the while, it still feels like something that stands on its own.

Take pre-fall 2014 as an example. The first look was, starting at the top, a black cropped jacket with a shearling collar over a bordeaux leather T-shirt worn with a sculptural metal necklace, cream leather gaucho pants, and a graphic black-and-white high-heeled huarache sandal. The proportions were nearly identical to the first look of their September show (the fabrics, on the other hand, were very different). “We were thinking of organic things, earthy things that felt less slick,” Hernandez said of his and McCollough’s state of mind as they worked on spring. “Now this is the fall version of those ideas.” Pre-fall’s paprika suede wrap skirt and dress evoked that same warm, interiors vibe from last season, and a cotton velvet geometric-print jacquard shell—worn with just the scarflike hem of a spotted layer underneath peeking out—recalled shapes from even further back, fall 2011, which underlines how strongly these guys are establishing an identity.

So what’s new? Well, for one, shorter lengths. “Seeing a little leg feels good again,” Hernandez said, standing next to a model in oxblood leather shorts and a matching leather mock turtleneck. Also, flocking. Only these two could make something so seemingly tacky feel like the fabric you have to have in your closet immediately. McCollough and Hernandez took a wispy white crepe and dotted it with soft black diamond shapes and then cut it into tops and a blouse-y, easy long-sleeved wrap dress with a thin black belt—and knee-high boot. The pattern was echoed on the superb evening look as well: a fluid, long-sleeved dress that looked like a top and skirt and was speckled in sequins and beads stacked on top of each other, like a bunch of tiny cairns.